was it so they would have friendly ports on the continent?
given their approach to maintaining the balance of power historically Why were they so willing to protect Netherlands and Belgium but not France?
This thread started by u/Necrocreature has quite some answers for you. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4z47j4/in_total_war_napoleon_it_says_that_as_always_an/
Some good answers by u/thefourthmaninaboat u/DeSoulis u/FlorisV